Flour Mill Business in India: Setup Cost, Licences and Real Margins

Key Takeaways

• Flour milling is a volume business, not a margin business. If your plan shows 40% margins on plain atta, the plan is wrong.
• Wheat is 70–80% of your cost and you do not control its price. Procurement skill matters more than milling skill.
• The multigrain atta business carries two to three times the margin of plain atta on a similar cost base. That is where new entrants should look.
• FSSAI licence category is decided by installed capacity, not turnover alone. Cross 2 MT per day and you need a Central licence.
• Government stock limits on wheat apply to processors and have been re-imposed almost every year since 2023. Build that into your working capital plan.